Oklahoma State University students marked the national Kick Butts Day by calling on tobacco companies to stop marketing to kids and reminding people of the financial, physical and emotional toll that tobacco smoke takes on every resident in the state.

One of the participants in the event organized on the OSU Stillwater campus, Katy Bruce, who was interviewed by News Oklahoma, said that she came to understand the negative effects of smoking from personal experience:

“Tobacco-free is a passion of mine because I have family members who have smoked and been affected by it,” Bruce said. “Just being in a house that smells like smoke and having that uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe in healthy air is bad enough.”

Her sentiments were echoed by the OSU health educator Yvon Fils-Aimee who called on college and university leaders to set an example for the rest of the state. According to Fils-Aimee, even though Oklahoma ranks 48th in the nation for tobacco usage, 6,000 people still die from it every year, and the annual cost to the state tops $2.7 billion dollars.

“We need strong tobacco policies and strong tobacco state laws,” Fils-Aime said. “This is no longer an option; these are critical health and economic issues.”

Additional Kick Butts Day events were also held at Kingfisher Middle School and Beggs Middle School.